Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Michigan Technological University students talk with companies at Tuesday’s Career Fair.

HOUGHTON — The Student Development Complex was full of students lined up to talk to companies at Michigan Technological University’s spring Career Fair Tuesday.

More than 200 companies were registered for Tuesday’s event, which follows one held in the fall. The fairs can include as many as 7,000 student interviews. In the weeks leading up to the fair, Tech holds CareerFest, a series of networking events and workshops that help students prepare.

Olivia O’Brien, a senior majoring in electrical engineering, has been coming to the fairs since she was a freshman. She’s gone to every fall fair, and two of the springs.

“I know that Michigan Tech has one of the best reputations for their career fair, and that’s why I chose to go here,” she said. “So I just wanted to talk to as many companies as possible, to get my name out there as much as possible.”

O’Brien’s looking for something in electronics, where she can eventually move into project management.

This year’s fair had already paid dividends: She’d lined up interviews with two companies so far.

She’s gotten many interviews and job opportunities through the fair over the years. Even as a freshman, she picked up professional development skills and learned how to present herself in interviews.

“Just confidence and how to talk to people that I’m nervous talking to, how to present myself and make a brand for myself,” she said.

Many of the companies have been fixtures at the fair for years.

Entact, an Illinois environmental remediation and geotechnical construction company, has been coming to the fair for four or five years, said training manager Peter Nasios.

The company includes multiple Michigan Tech alums, Nasios said.

Tuesday, the company was primarily looking for field engineers. But as a growing company, it was looking at graduates with a variety of degrees — chemistry, sustainability, construction management.

The candidates Nasios had seen so far Tuesday have a lot of promise, he said.

“I love the fact that some are graduating in a couple of months, and some of them graduate in two years,” he said. “So we’d like to kind of build up our pipeline, keep track of them, establish a relationship.”

The great candidates are the reason Entact comes back to Tech each year, Nasios said.

“It’s being tied into the whole engineering scene that they have down here,” he said. “We’ve hit home runs with a few other guys, so we hope that continues.”